We could have found a way
by Ryunn Kazan
Summary: Song fic. Itachi/Anko, Orochimaru/Anko in a sick way. Sequal to "Unbroken in a million pieces" Anko and Itachi were so broken...but so perfect...What happened to them? Do they still love each other?
1. Present day

_**Note: This whole story is slightly AU-ish due to Anko and Itachi being the same age, fourteen, the amount of time Itachi had to take out his clan, and the fact that he and Orochimaru left for the Akatsuki at the same time.**_

_**Hey, it's fan fiction, I can do whatever I want.**_

_**Song is: "What Happened to us" by Hoobastank**_

She was dead, and he hadn't been able to stop it.

"You should have given me more time Anko." He cursed, his grip tightened around his sword in anger. "If you had just…"

He let the thought slip away. It didn't matter now. She was at peace now and he could get some sleep without one less face haunting him.

He closed the door behind him as he left, both as totem of respect for the woman of the house and to hide the truth just a little longer from the outside room. He stared at the moon as he left, alive and bright just like it had been that cold night 8 years ago—his first and last time with Anko.

"What happened to us?" he questioned as if she were there listening. "We were broken but…everything was so perfect…"

**_Longer chapter on the way!_**


	2. What happened to us?

_****_

8 years, 14 weeks, and 3 days earlier…

_I thought it was too good to be true_

"I really wished I'd taken those pain killers." Anko muttered as she limped through the lively streets of the Leaf Village. Her body was in a destructive state from

the "training" Orochimaru had put her through less than an hour ago.

A child's laugh brought her out of her self- pity. She stared lonesome at the children, and occasionally a twelve year old like her, with their friends and parents, just smiling like the entire world were theirs for the taking. She found a bench in a dango restaurant and sat down to rest her aching bones.

"If they were to spend on day in a shinobi's shoes, they wouldn't smile so much." She growled with malice.

"Be thankful that they don't have to."

_I thought I found somebody who understands me_

Anko glanced around to see a boy, about the same age as her. He was picking at a basket of dango, but all of his attention was focused on her words.

"It's best that we fight so that innocent people you are hating don't have to." He looked up from his basket at her. They stared at each other for a long moment, taking in one another's visible appearances. They so were different: his eyes were on the verge of breaking while hers on ready to kill.

And yet, judging by the dark purple bruise they shared on the neck, they were exactly the same. But then again maybe they weren't.

He was healthy looking, despite the slight bruises bulging out of his bandage-covered arms. She, however, was deadly pale with a slight green color in her complexion from being lock up when she hadn't done her training like her sensei wanted it.

More than look wise, it was their eyes. His body may have been alive but his eyes were dead. Yet, her body was broken, clearly seen no matter how she tried to hide it, but her eyes were so strong and unbroken.

Anko blinked those eyes of hers and stood up. She paused momentarily, his words sinking in, before saying, "No one asked your opinion, bub."

Then she left, but Itachi's eyes followed her.

…

…

_Someone who would help me to get through…_

Orochimaru dropped his bloodied and sedated student on her bed. He stared impassively at her ruined but beautiful form and smirked, running a hand over her face. "Hopefully that taught you to never be late again…you pathetic wretch."

He left after that, unaware that his student had been awake and had heard that comment. Outside, just ten feet from the house stood Itachi Uchiha who had spent the last two hours watching Orochimaru and Anko spare and beat the Hell out of each other.

He touched one of the many bruises on his arm and thought about the pain his own father had put him through; did this girl go through the same thing?

He shook his head and turned back to the direction of the Uchiha compound. He was already late had knew that his father would be waiting up for him.

_And fill an emptiness I had inside me_

…

…

Orochimaru was trying to grab that easily see-through shirt of Anko's. It was her own fault for wearing such reveling clothes; she was practically asking for it. She slapped his hand and stumbled back.

He glared at her. How dare she try to hide something, ANYTHING for that matter, from him? He had the right to her: her mind, her soul, and just as importantly, her body. She was his and he would not allow such disobedience.

He found her again, her sculpted body scrunched up in a corner. He went to grab her again, but she kicked and clawed at him. He managed to get a hold of her arm and yank her forward.

"Stop it, Anko!"

"Fuck you!" she shouted, biting down hard on his arm.

He screamed as the skin broke under her teeth. He grabbed her hair and threw her against the wall; her head made a delightful POP as she stopped.

His eyes scanned up and down her shaking form. She had the body of an eighteen year old, and yet she was a measly fourteen. (Most of her clothes were too small due to the lack of missions she went on. Orochimaru often mockingly offered to help her with finical troubles, but she was smart enough to not get into any debt with him.)

Her white shorts were stained with blood and seemed to hug her thighs; the rest of her legs were exposed due to her shinobi shoes. The mesh shirt she was wearing had tears in it from their previous battles and assaults. Her hair had somehow managed to remain in its tight ponytail but was turning into a darker color due to the dried up and new blood.

Orochimaru crouched down beside her and touched her with the back of his hand. She flinched quietly, but made no sound.

_But you kept inside_

"You know, dear," he said softly, his hand redirecting to her blood coated head. He applied healing charka to it as he talked. "I really hate doing this to you." One of his hands securely locked on her hip. "You're very beautiful and each time you force me to put a bruise on you…Honestly, it's too much of a turn on."

He turned her to him so that her back rested against the wall. "I want you to feel comfortable around me Anko." He gave it a rough squeeze. "I want to be able to touch you without knocking you out." He moved closer so that his hot breath washed over her ear. "But if you don't stop acting _so damn suborn_, I'm going to have to break you into a million pieces and-…"

"You can't break me." Anko laughed bitterly, looking at him wildly. "My body, maybe, but me, my _mind_…**" **she laughed because it was almost humorous. "You could beat me over and over again, but I'd still be a step ahead of you."

"Shut up."

She stared into his eyes, the shaking, angry slits that had seen so much but saw so little.

"You're already broken, aren't you?"

Orochimaru slapped her, his palm leaving a red mark on her pale face. "I told you to shut your mouth!"

She kicked him again and had just enough time to run to the door, but her fingertips where barely touching the doorknob when she was yanked back and thrown onto the couch.

"Get off me!" Anko screamed as Orochimaru tried to pin her down. He managed to get her hands pinned at the sides of her head and her knees crushed by his.

"Look at me." He growled. She kept struggling so he pressed himself harder on her small frame. Her struggles soon halted as her strength began fading.

"Look at me." He repeated, this time more softly.

She took in a few pained breaths before looking at her crazed sensei. The expression on his face almost made her want to forget his actions of a few moments ago. He looked so sincere and…loving that she could have so easy fallen into his trap the way she had when she had first became his apprentice. But years of watching him crawl out of his skin showed her what he really was.

She looked away but his hand made her turn back to him. She was about to retort when his lips clasped possessively down on hers. At first she just lay there and allowed this violation; after all, anything was better than being beat to death. But then she felt his lukewarm hands fingering one of the holes in her shirt. She tensed when he stretched the hole until her shirt was nothing more than a useless piece of rag. "Oro-…"

He slapped a hand over her mouth. "Shhh…"

She was too weak to stop him, too weak to resist him or anything else. So she let him take her, as if it were the most unimportant thing in the world. There was pain, but very little of it for she was use to far worse. There was pleasure, but she was too unaccustomed to it to recognize it.

And now, he was gone, retiring in his own room thus leaving her curled up on the couch of the living room. He had enough compassion to cover her up with his large coat, but her other clothes were in ruins.

She couldn't remember what how it had gotten like this: from loving him one minute and then wanting him to die the next. Maybe it was her fault, maybe she had given him the intention that she had wanted this, but she couldn't remember how she had emphasized it.

She sat up, the trench coat covering her completely, and looked at his closed door, very unwelcoming than it was a few years ago. She turned away and stared at her hands.

"I hate this place." She got up slowly, both to avoid making noise and to steady herself from the soreness. She found what was left of her clothes and slipped them on, leaving the Hellhole she wanted to burn down with _him_in it.

_And I just denied_

She jumped from tree to tree, fighting back the tears of being used.

"Damn it." She cursed as the sharp pain in her head returned; it felt like a kunai had been shoved into her brain and twisted to an unending extent. She had no choice but to stop. She looked around at the green and brown world as it began spinning and going darker. Losing her grip, she toppled from the tree to the ground.

Or at least she would have if someone hadn't caught her.

_Something's that we should have both said_

He gasped as he landed on his knees with Anko in his arms. It wasn't that she was heavy, she was actually too light for a normal fourteen year old, and it was just that his legs were killing him all of a sudden. It could have had something to do with the harsh training he had endured. Was he finally getting stronger?

She woke up to the feel of warmth far more welcoming to that of her Sensei's. She opened her eyes to meet that of the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She stared at him for only a second before almost screaming from the banging pain in her head.

"It's all right." The person assured her, rocking her slightly and kept cooing reassurances until the pain died away.

She reluctantly sat up and stared at him. Most of his features were blacked out by the nighttime shadows but she was still able to see the purple bruises tattooing his arms and neck; very much like those of her own.

They stared at each other in awe; it was pure fate that they had found each other like this.

Anko broke the trance and stood up slowly. "Umm…I should get home."

_I knew it was too good to be true…_

He didn't respond so she just trotted off into the dense forest. Itachi's Sharingan watched her chakra spike intensely; he hadn't seen the last of her.

_'Cause I'm the only one who understands me..._

…

…

_What happened to us?_

"Get up!" Orochimaru shouted at the woman spread out on the rocky ground.

Her wrist was numb from when Orochimaru had slung her and that itself was making it impossible for her to oblige to him. He finally got sick of her and yanked her to her feet. He punched her in the stomach, chest, shoulders, anywhere he could get to. Anko couldn't take it anymore and with her last bit of strength shoved him away, dropping to the ground after that.

Orochimaru hit a tree and glared at Anko's now unconscious form. He watched her back heave and then her hunched form speed towards him. She screamed and aimed a broken bloody fist directly at his mouth.

Itachi eyes widened; he thought that she was actually going to get a hit in on the great Sannin. But he was proven wrong when Orochimaru grabbed Anko's arm, kneed her in the stomach and threw her to the side. She hit the ground with such force that the sound of her body breaking echoed to him despite how he was over 110 feet away.

Itachi stood from his slouched position to a defensive standing one. He forced himself to calm down so that he didn't go over there and beat the Hell out of Orochimaru. He watched him pick Anko up again and set her on her feet.

"Silent and calm." He said to himself. "That's what you were taught to do…silent and calm…"

It was a lot harder to do than he thought.

Orochimaru watched Anko wither in his grasp. She must have pinched a nerve a while back because her limbs were jolting and spasming in an untamed fashion. The blood running down her mouth was becoming a sticky paste in between his hand and her neck.

He stared into her eyes. Still fiery and alive. Damn her.

He dropped her, leaving her one the ground to pick the pieces up while he simply went home.

_We used to be so perfect_

Itachi waited five seconds after Orochimaru disappeared before jumping off the tree he was hiding in and running to Anko's aid.

She was trembling in a strange way and he was afraid that he wasn't going to be able to save her in time. He pulled her into his lap and applied chakra into her skull, which had a large crack in it from what he could feel through his chakra-ridden hands.

Anko moaned as he treated her; the only sign that she was still with him. The moon was coming out from behind the dark clouds above; lending an extra light to the victim and her healer. Itachi smiled, it seemed as if someone or at least something was watching over them.

After half an hour of treating her, he sighed, shaking, and laid her down on her back again. She was stable but she would be in a lot of pain for the next week or so.

He tried to think of what he should do: either leave her here and at least cover her up, carry her to Orochimaru's house and let him find her, or…take her home with him.

The last seemed like the best option, but there were so many things that could happen. For one, his parents could find out and call Orochimaru, which would be bad. Or Orochimaru himself could come looking for her and beat the Hell out of her later for not being where he had left her.

He shook his head and picked her up as gently as possible. It wouldn't matter, if that bastard tried to lay a finger on her while she was in _his_house, there would be dire consequences. He positioned her on his back and sped off to the Uchiha compound.

_Now we're lost and lonely_

He quietly skimmed through the streets; even if he had been caught he wouldn't have been questioned, he was the pride of the Uchiha clan after all.

He climbed through his bedroom window to better avoid his parents. He looked around quickly and laid Anko on his bed.

_What happened to us?_

"Big Brother!"

Itachi jumped as his little brother Sasuke almost knocked him on top of Anko with a great bear hug.

"Mother and Father were starting to worry but I told them that you were just fine! You see big brother, I covered up for you!" the eight years old attention switched to the purpled haired woman in Itachi's bed. "Who's she?" Sasuke asked poking Anko's arm. "She's pretty Itachi. What's her name?"

Itachi gently pulled his brother away from her and motioned for him to be quiet. He then squatted down to his level and talked to in an almost motherly tone "Sasuke, you have to keep this a secret okay. I watched this girl get really hurt and I brought her here so that she wouldn't get hurt again. If Mom and Dad found out, then they would take her back to the person who did this."

Sasuke's innocent eyes widened and he glanced at Anko who had turned onto her side.

Itachi regained his attention. "Will you help me?"

Sasuke smiled and said. "Sure I will, Big Brother!" but his smile became more mischievous. "But you have to teach me shuriken jutsu tomorrow."

Itachi gawked at his little brother. "Sasuke, you know I have to go see the Hokage tomorrow. Not to mention, I have to find a way to get this girl out of here without-…"

"Mom! Dad!" Sasuke shouted. Itachi slammed his hand over his mouth and shushed him harshly.

"All right, all right, just be quiet!"

Sasuke smile victoriously. "Good night, Big Brother!" he once again glanced at Anko "Good night, pretty lady." He then left, humming softly. "Itachi's going to train me tomorrow!"

Itachi rolled his eyes and went sit on the end of his bed, taking off his shoes and shirt and throwing them somewhere like most teenagers did. At least that was _one_normal thing about him.

_And deep inside I wonder, _

He glanced at Anko's slowly moving form, the gentle flow of her dark blue chakra; she was a beautiful creature, no doubt. He hesitated before slowly moving closer and lying down at a good distance beside her. He ran his fingertips through her hair; it felt like fine silk to him. Her skin though dirty, had a tantalizing scent of a warrior; a martyr, like him.

Itachi couldn't understand why someone like Orochimaru would even _think_about hurting something so beautiful. He smiled and placed a protective hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from the monster."

_Did I lose my only? _

…

…

_Remember they thought we were too young _

She was gone when he woke up at dawn. The only hint that she had been there was the agonizing smell of her in his sheets and a scribbled down message on a piece of paper that said 'I didn't ask for your help bub.'

Despite the insult, he smiled because he was confident that she was going to be okay.

There was a soft, secretive knock on the door and soon Sasuke entered with a tray of two bowls of cereal. "Big Brother, I brought some breakfast for you and the pretty lady."

Itachi got up and began rummaging for clean clothes. "That's all right, she already left."

"Too bad." Sasuke pouted.

Itachi patted his head. "You should be glad, now we can get started on the shuriken jutsu I promised."

"Really!" Sasuke beamed. He shoved the tray into his brother's hands and went to change out of his pajamas.

Itachi sadly smiled at his younger brother's child-like innocence. A few hours of his company would lighten the pain off his heart.

Itachi stared out at the new day outside his window; everything was so bright and alive that it was hard to believe that it was going to one that forced his world to change.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

The walk from the Uchiha compound and to her house on the other side of the Leaf Village was a blurry one. But a high power must have had pity on her soul for the night before and guided her safely to the front door where she was truly awakened by Orochimaru's raging voice.

"Where have you been!"

The door slipped out of Anko's hands and crashed to a close. He was dead mad, something Orochimaru rarely got even with her. "I…I went for a walk"

"You lie."

"_Not really."_

Her anger intact with the memories of last night was starting to build up. "Why should you care?"

"Watch it, girl." His voice became more seductive. "Or would you rather have a repeat of last night?"

Anko's fist curled to its breaking point. She wanted to scream at him and curse him straight to Hell, but there was so much holding her back. All she could manage was a glare before storming to her room; the son of a gun wouldn't even let her get her own apartment.

Another hand gripped her doorknob before her and she was pinned against the smooth wood.

"You deserved to be punished Anko." His dark voice sang in her ear. The hand on the knob slid up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. "And I plan to give you a new definition of punishment; one that I bet even that _Uchiha_boy would be surprised at.

Anko's glare turned into a fearful expression.

"Oh yes, I know about the little meetings you two have been having." He pulled her from the door and threw her on the floor, the trench coat that Itachi had used to clean some of her wounds the night before came afterwards. "Teenagers are so foolish these days."

Her hand reached out and gripped the sleeve, tears in the corner of her eyes. _'He helped me! The jerked helped me!' _

She didn't know whether to be happy or angry.

Orochimaru placed his foot on her shoulder and turned on her back. He smirked. "You look a lot better from this perspective."

Anko snapped. She was not playing this game again. "How about _this one_**?" **

Her foot shot up and got him in between the legs, causing him to cry out and back away. Anko wasted to time. She grabbed the jacket beside her and limped out the door, trying whatever she could to fight off the dizziness and wariness trying to take her out. She fled out the door and tripped over one of the steps.

She lay there very quietly, and through the pain, there was happiness. Its name was Itachi.

"_It's best that we fight so that innocent people you are hating don't have to."_

"Itachi…Are you fighting for _me_?"

A dark shadow covered her. She gasped and shot up. Orochimaru looked far from pleased and looked ready to take a club to her head. She jumped up and ran from him, praying that Itachi was there.

Orochimaru, with a murderous, crazed grin, followed her with lustful intentions.

_**/LATER/**_

_To really know what it takes to make it_

"Ooh! Can we get some of these, Big Brother?" Sasuke pleaded as he pointed to a basket of sweet rolls in the bakery they were passing by.

Itachi and his brother had spent hours training, but his body was in too much turmoil to go any longer. This had been a huge blow for Sasuke, but Itachi promised to take him into town if he didn't pout. Itachi sighed wearily but forced a smile.

"Yeah okay," he pulled out a few wrinkled bills. "But we need to speed it up; I have to be in Lord Hokage's office in a hour."

"Okay!" Sasuke shrieked, though he probably hadn't paid any attention just as long as he had gotten what he had wanted. But that was okay. Sasuke was a child and needed to live as one.

_But we had survived off what we have done _

Itachi leaned into a wall, breathing sharply as he did. The developing bruises where starting to ache and that in itself was taking too much of a toll on the Uchiha.

As he and Sasuke tried to sneak off that morning, their father and pulled Itachi to the side and let him have it. He dared her to scream, but he didn't because Sasuke's innocence needed to be preserved. Other than the blood running from Itachi's temple, the youngest Uchiha had known nothing.

Thank God.

A few girls, typical fans, walked past him and started giggling when he looked back at them. He nodded politely and they busted out into fits of girly titters.

_So we could show them all that they're mistaken_

Itachi shook his head and watched them leave, his favorite part by the way. His smile faded though when a girl unhealthier brushed past them violently. Itachi almost didn't recognize her with the, tattered clothes and bulky trench coat twice the size of her with blood stains on the sleeves. But once she was right across from him, he recognized the broken and beautiful face of Anko Mitarashi.

_But who could have known, _

She ran, no, staggered, past him. He had to hold his breath from the stench of blood that came off of her.

She stumbled to the right, bumping into people and getting cussed at until she hit a wall and collapsed to the ground. Yet, she clawed at it and tried to pick herself up.

Itachi's defensive nature went up and he was a second away from going to her when another person brushed past him, this one taller and from what Itachi's highly alert senses could pick up, **deadlier.**

He watched in complete standstill as a dark-haired man picked her up by the shoulders and pushed her on ward.

_The lies that would grow, _

Orochimaru had keep himself from beating the Hell out of her right then and there; there were too many people watching and it would be ashamed if _both_his hobbies were found out too soon. But like it would matter to them: He was a Sannin, well respected among everyone. No one would question him for his training methods.

A cough triggered another wave of anger and he stopped her and gently pushed her into a wall. He took a slight moment to let his eyes trail down her bloody and carefully sculpted body. The tears in her short sleeve mesh shirt revealed the creamy flesh that she would only expose with shorts.

He gripped her arms, causing a tortured mew from her; the bloodstains were still fresh and made stains in his hands as he gripped her tighter. Her scent, the feel of her, everything about her was addicting. He wanted it.

"You want to skip another beating, Anko?" he whispered, secretly nuzzling her neck. "God knows you deserve it for not coming home last night."

"Home…" Anko muttered. She pulled her neck away from him. "A home is a place where you're _welcomed_, where you're not _in pain every fucking day_, where your Sensei isn't a complete _bastard_…"

_Until we could see right through them _

Itachi squinted his eyes to better get a look at Anko and the demon torturing her. He saw Orochimaru's lips smirking and moving while Anko's eyes glared at him.

He barely kept the heavy tug on his sleeve as he was caught up in the horror.

"Big Brother, are you all right?" little Sasuke asked as an expression of fear and rage spread over his older brothers face. He followed the direction of his eyes caught the almost invisible sight of the pretty woman Itachi had brought into their home just the night before. "That's the girl from last night, isn't it Itachi?" Even though he received no answer, he continued with a laugh "It's too bad she belongs with that other guy."

Itachi's eyes widened. _'Belongs…to him…'_

Orochimaru began losing his patience with this defiant little toy. "I suggest you shut up while you still have teeth inside this pretty head of yours."

Anko laughed as much as her devastated lungs would allow. "No. Why not show all of these people what kind of a person you are outside of that Jōnin suit of yours." She pulled him closer so that she could whisper in a seductive fashion, "Why do you hide something like this from them that you show me every damn day, huh?" She took her charade a bit further as poked the skin of his ear with the tip of her tongue. "Am I…special?"

"Just wait until we get home." Orochimaru growled in a dead ice tone. "I'll show you how _special_ you really are to me-…"

Anko threw him off her, causing him to collide with a few people and then finally fall over a cart of some sort.

"Uh-oh!" Sasuke exclaimed worriedly as Orochimaru fell back.

_Remember they knew we were too young…_

Itachi's Sharingan eyes widened at the spike in both Anko and Orochimaru's chakras; there was a battle coming on.

Anko stared in disbelief at the unmoving body of her Sensei. She hadn't meant to go off like that, but when he threatened her, and just the way he touched and looked at her, she couldn't help and she finally snapped.

But once the fear wore off, the sight on her sensei's fallen body made her happier than she had ever been. If fact she laughed at how she was able to take him out because really, it was humorous. This man had left her broken and aching in a million pieces everyday since she was twelve years old. And yet, with barely a flick of her sprained wrist, she had probably killed him.

She chuckled and looked down at her bloody hands, a maniac look spreading over her face, "I did it…I finally killed Orochimaru…"

Sasuke stared at Anko's bloodied, shaky form, looking up at his brother,

"Maybe she's in shock." He suggested, remembering something he had learned in the academy about rookies going into shock when on a battlefield.

Itachi didn't answer; all he could focus on was the color of her chakra changed as she trembled. It was scary, but so empowering that he would do anything to watch it forever.

'_Is she…breaking?'_

His neurological senses kicked in and he blinked. Orochimaru was getting up now, his dark purple chakra moving in waves like that of a forming hurricane.

Itachi saw something on the side of his face that intrigued him: a small line of blood from a cut. To most it would seem like much, but when you had Sharingan, everything was amazing to watch.

It was healing right before his eyes. Like a sponge ever so slowly soaking up water. Not to mention the strange chakra surrounding it; a bright, almost blood red. Chakra, that_ didn't _belong to him.

_We still don't know what it takes to make it..._

A loud as Hell scream brought him back. Anko was on her knees, laughing uncontrollable at the blood on her hands. She was insane and was proving it to Itachi, Sasuke, and the small group of passing biers.

"Itachi." Sasuke sobbed, clinging to his brother's arm. "What's wrong with her?"

Itachi couldn't, didn't know how to answer that question. He was forced to watch this girl, a girl he had save out of a random act of kindness, fall into pieces. It was like watching someone jump off a cliff: all you could do was watch; only afterwards would you run and get help.

It was Itachi's turn to snapped. He covered his ears and dropped to his knees, "Stop…Please just stop!"

He remained like that for a moment, curled up in the middle of the street with his little brothers' hand still twisted in the fabric of his shirtsleeve. But the only difference now was that there was silence. Silence to quiet to be real.

Itachi cracked his tightly shuteyes. Anko had stopped laughing, an expression of horror replaced with her excited one.

She was no longer shaking but her eyes were still stuck to her hands. _'Am…Am I like him?'_

Had she turned into a murderous, blood-craving maniac like her Sensei?

"No…" she whispered, covering her eyes with her hands. She suddenly felt a heavy, dark presence just above her. She peaked out of her eyes and saw Orochimaru's all too familiar legs in front of her, waiting.

As accustomed, she stood to face him. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the bystanders watching the show, they were keeping their distance and didn't look too enthusiastic to jump in and break up the little dispute.

They stared each down, waiting for someone to throw the first punch.

Anko wasn't willing to play this game. She was tired, of the abuse and him. She wanted it to stop and the only way for it to be so was for her to just walk away. She turned from him and only took a step forward when she caught sight of someone vaguely familiar in the crowd. He was staring at her intensely, his expression saying _'get away from him while you still can.'_

She blinked and was immediately under the spell of his eyes.

"Come on." Itachi whispered softly. "I'm right here just…"

_What happened to us?_

Before Anko knew what was happening, she was grabbed by the back of the hair and throw back into the wall she was previously pinned against, her head making a sickening crack as she hit.

Something dark and dangerous triggered in Itachi. Some sort of possessiveness overcame him when he saw a limp Anko try to pick herself up. That darkness twisted and broke when he saw her touch her head, wince, and pull back to reveal blood smothered all over the palm of her hand.

_"Don't worry, I'll protect you from the monster!"_

Orochimaru had zero reaction time when an angry fist collided with his cheek. He went flying back but didn't hit anything for he was grabbed in mid- air and throw into the ground. Before he could even catch his breath, someone was on top of him, punching, clawing, and screaming at him.

_We used to be so perfect,_ "

You bastard!" Itachi yelled over and over again. He was blind to everything except the red, Orochimaru's throat under one of his hands, and the feeling of his fist hitting a slippery face. "She's not yours! She does not belong to you."

"Big Brother, stop!"

_"She's. Not. Like. You!"_

Suddenly, he was yanked away from the bloodied mess that was Orochimaru and thrown at least twelve feet. He recovered almost instantly, shaking the dirt out of his hair and wiping the small amount of blood from under his nose.

Sasuke crouched down beside him, checking his brother. They looked at each other and then at the girl guarding her Sensei's corpse. She was glaring at him; you think she'd be thankful that he saved her.

"For the last time, bub," she growled through gnashed teeth. "I…don't need your help!"

And just after saying those words, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she dropped to the ground. Itachi gasped and as soon as the shock and fatigue wore off, Itachi crawled to Anko's body and could only stare at her.

Sasuke was beside him as always. "Maybe we should take her back to our house."

If Itachi weren't in such distress, he probably would have rolled his eyes. Children were no naïve.

He picked her up as much as his own aching muscles and joints would allow. He spared a final glance at the peaceful Orochimaru.

"Call an ambulance." He said, knowing that no one heard him. "Sasuke, let's go."

"…Okay!" squeaked the still and shock Sasuke.

In all the excitement, no one noticed the man in a back and red cloak with spiky green hair watching the whole scene.

"Looks like we found out knew members."

"Hmph. We'll see."

_Now we're lost and lonely _

/.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,./

_What happened to us? _

Itachi and Sasuke stayed by Anko's side the rest of that horrific day. Sasuke kept himself occupied by playing with the medical instruments and taking routine naps in Itachi's lap, which he was doing now by the way.

Itachi was holding him and watching Anko's heart monitor go at a steady rate. The doctors diagnosed her with several bruised ribs among other bones, a severe concussion, and minor blood poisoning. She had been put under with heavy pain medications but whether neurological damage had been done would have to be found out when she woke up.

When he had been asked if he knew how she had gotten the injuries, he simply said from intense training with _him_and her sensei. And after reading her chakra for so long, he knew that that would be somewhat what she would have liked.

Itachi gripped his little brother tightly; if anyone ever tried to lay even a finger on Sasuke, they would suffer a very cruel, uniquely ideated, death.

That bastard, Orochimaru…Why did he do this? What could make him want to cause this girl so much pain?

"Coward." Was the only word Itachi could think of to describe the man? Anyone who felt no remorse in almost battering a mere child to death was a sick, demented, coward.

A knock on the door made Itachi almost drop Sasuke. He put on an impassive expression and stated, "Come in, please."

The door creaked open and then closed gently.

"Lord Hokage." Itachi greeted, hiding his surprise perfectly. He had completely forgotten about the meeting he was supposed to have attended that evening, but honestly, he didn't really care anymore.

"How is she?" he asked, his attention focused on Anko.

He turned to her. "The doctors said that her injuries are minor, but it may take her a while to completely heal."

"…I see." The Hokage sighed. "Itachi, about our meeting today-…"

"I'll make it up first thing tomorrow morning." Itachi cut in.

"Itachi, it's not that exactly." He looked down at the bundle in his arms. "I think we need to take this someplace a little more…private. I'll tell a nurse to check in on your brother until then."

Itachi looked at him suspiciously but set his brother in a comfortable position and left with him.

After a few hours, Anko's bloodshot eyes opened to the unfamiliar scenery. She wanted to sit up but her body wouldn't cooperate with her thoughts. _'Where…where…am i?"_

She took in a painful breath and managed to mover her stiff neck from side to side.

"Well, hi!"

Anko jumped at the small child who appeared beside her out of nowhere. He laughed and leaned his elbows into the mattress. "Gotcha', huh?"

"…Kind of." She answered warily.

Sasuke laughed again. "It's okay, Itachi-kun is a lot better." He looked around the room. "I wonder where he went."

"…Itachi?" That name rang something inside Anko's head.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered happily. "He's my brother. He brought you to our house when you fell asleep so that you wouldn't get hurt. He also brought you here after that man hit you." He looked at bit sad after that.

Anko's eyes widened but then turned into a scowl. "How hard is it for that guy to take a hint?"

"He really seems to like you." Sasuke told her in a low voice.

Anko looked at him. "Kid, I appreciate what your brother did, but…" she paused as the fell of a headache came one. She forced herself to continue. "But…I have to try to fight off my demons on my own."

Sasuke smiled. "Itachi doesn't mind helping. I don't mind either."

She chuckled slightly. "Right. By the way, what's your name, kid?"

"Sasuke Uchiha!" he declared proudly.

"Anko." She introduced herself dully.

"That's a nice name." Sasuke comment. "It's some kind of dango, right? Itachi love dango, but I don't, sorry. I don't like a lot of sweets unless they're salty as well…"

Anko smiled as Sasuke went on and on about himself and his brother. The cheerful sound of his voice was a better comforter than the high dosage of painkillers she had been given.

Suddenly the door opened, and Itachi, crestfallen and head down, entered. He lifted his shaking, distant eyes at the tow people in the room and said. "Sasuke, get ready, we have to go home now."

"Uh…" Sasuke looked at Anko who smiled.

"It's okay, we'll see each other tomorrow." She looked at Itachi "Right?"

Itachi outwardly flinched. It scared his brother some. "Maybe, I don't know. It depends on what out parents say. Sasuke, come on."

Sasuke jumped at the sudden harshness in his brothers' voice. "Are you okay Big Brother-…"

"I said, come on!" he shouted, grabbing Sasuke's arm and practically yanking him out of the chair.

Anko grabbed the boy with one hand and pulled him to her a little. "Hey listen, don't touch him like that, he's just a kid."

"Like you would know!" Itachi screamed at her "How the Hell are you able to protect a child when you can barely protect yourself!"

Anko glared at him and tightened her grip on Sasuke.

Itachi snarled. "Answer me!"

Just then, Sasuke shook out of both their grasps and shot out of the room.

"Sasuke!" Itachi shouted after him with a broken voice.

Anko stared at Itachi for a moment. His entire body was trembling as if he had just witnessed something terrible. Asking him if he were okay was a waste of time; the answer was written plainly on his tense features.

She cleared her throat "Hey, uh…Itachi, was it?"

Itachi turned slowly to her.

"Thanks…for earlier…" She was a bit ashamed that she had to thank a complete stranger but that look on his face had to go.

"You're welcome." He said shallowly. He took the chair in front of the bed and put it against the wall. "Goodbye…" He still didn't know her name. Damn.

"Anko."

He nodded. Her voice sounded like soft bells. He left without another word.

Anko sighed; Orochimaru was so going to kick her ass.

/.,.,.,./

_And deep inside I wonder,_

Itachi found Sasuke curled up out side the hospital. He wasn't sure how to approach him after that outburst; it was his first time ever hurting Sasuke like that.

He crouched down in front of him, his still trembling hand hovering over his head. Damn he could stop shaking since he left the Hokage's office. After what he had told him…

He trapped his brother in a great embrace to wipe the thought away.

He didn't want to think. He didn't want to do the deed he had been asked to do. He just wanted to feel something other than pain.

His father brought him pain, everyday. His mother tried to sugarcoat it, giving him medicine to numb out the aches and bubbling reassurances and nonsense about how he was going to be okay. Sasuke was oblivious, thank God. He never had to see the bruises, never had to _feel_them as long as Itachi was around. He brought him happiness, even if it was just for a little while.

He felt Sasuke pull away and it almost broke him. But Sasuke put one of his small hands on his cheek. "Big Brother, are you cold? You're shaking."

Itachi forced as smile.

'_Silent and calm…silent and calm…'_

"Kind of." He stood up and took his hand. "I'm just…tired. Let's go home, okay?"

Sasuke nodded and gripped Itachi's hand. "Can we go see Anko tomorrow?"

Itachi secretly frowned. "I…I don't know."

_Did I lose my only one?_

/.,.,.,./

It was ten P.M. now. Sasuke had long been in bed and Mikoto was finishing up the kitchen. Itachi fell into the sound of the dishes clanking as they were dried and put away. That was something he's miss about her. He heard her footsteps come closer to where he was and felt a rush of warm1 air on his arm and neck when the door opened.

"Itachi," his mother addressed him gently. "Honey, it's getting cold out; you'll get sick in you're out here too much longer.

Itachi smiled without looking at her. "I'm fine, Mom."

She closed the door slightly to keep their conversation from being heard. "You're father's already gone to bed."

'_Idiot.' _Itachi thought. Still he flashed his mother a reassuring look. "I'll be in a little while, okay?"

His mother stared at him worriedly, but went left him alone.

Itachi's smiled disappeared instantly.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

"_It's unavoidable, Itachi." The third Hokage stated. "At the rate your clan is going, the Hidden Leaf Village will be under complete dictatorship in less than a year._

_Itachi kept his eyes down. His mind was forcing everything he had been told to process, but he wanted to stick a knife in his head. _

"_If I had another choice, you know I'd use it. But I'm afraid that even an elite group of ANBU won't be able to take them down. You're a last resort."_

_Itachi stood, he had heard enough. "I understand. But must I kill __**all **__of them?"_

"_Even one survivor will cause a possible comeback."_

"_What about my little brother? He knows nothing, if you keep quiet, he'll become an excellent shinobi and would never-"_

"_It can not be done." The Hokage said sternly._

_Itachi's fear and anxiety caught up with him. "He's eight damn years old! He's barely lived yet! Don't make me kill him!"_

_Hiruzen looked back at him for the first time._

_Itachi looked back down. "Please…Just spare my brother."_

_Sarutobi looked away. The silence between them was agonizing and painful, but both remained frozen. _

"…_As long as you fulfill your duty and keep him in the dark, I will grant your request. You have three days. Do what you have to Sasuke, but that is as close of a leverage as I'm allowing. Got it?"_

"_Yes." Itachi replied calmly, but really he wanted to cry tears of joy. Then the reality hit him. _

_Three days. _

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

_We could have made it work, _

Three days. Three days from then, he would have to face his mother with her life in his hands.

He hated thinking about it. Despite how she did little to stop the abuse that Fugaku inflicted, she was always there to help him numb the pain and keep Sasuke from seeing the bruises.

Sasuke.

Breaking him would be the hardest thing he would ever have to do. He would have to get him to hate him; it was the only way to keep him from digging into the truth. He would miss that smile though, at this rate, he would never see it again.

He might enjoy seeing his father die though; he would be able to feel what he had been putting him though all this time. Was it a sin to want your parent to die?

Three days. Three damn days.

He sighed agitatedly and started throwing small stones at the ground. A few long moments went by before the door opened again. Itachi clenched one of the stones in his hand.

"I said, I'd be inside later!" he groaned. His answer was a warm, firm hand on his shoulder.

'_No…'_

Fugaku took a seat beside his son, or whatever Itachi was considered to him.

"Don't you know how to treat your elders?" he asked mockingly. He had that tone again, the tone he had before he beat the Hell out of Itachi.

Itachi shrugged out of his grip. "Yes." It was best to say as little as possible when dealing with this man.

Fugaku laughed darkly. "I heard about what happened today."

The rock began digging into his skin. "What did you hear exactly?"

He laughed again. He was enjoying this as always. "That my poor delusional son almost killed the great Snake Sannin in the middle of the streets in front of well over fifty witnesses."

The darkness returned in Itachi. It twisted and hissed as it crept from his core to his brain.

"Someone mentioned a young girl who stopped my son, easily stopped him at that." He leaned in closer, but Itachi didn't make a move. He gripped Itachi's shoulder threateningly "Such weakness is very sickening."

Itachi pulled out of his grasp and stood up. "I'm not going to listen to this." His ankle was grabbed and he was pinned to the deck. "You're going to listen to a lot worse."

"Let me go!"

Fugaku dragged him down to the ground. For the next couple of minutes, grunts and sounds of skin hitting skin was all that echoed in the dead of night.

Itachi was flipped on his back; his hands on his fathers's shoulder while his were wrapped around his throat. Itachi coughed as his grip became tighter; he wouldn't be able to hide these bruises as he did all the others. He looked around for something solid to focus on to give him strength enough to activate his Sharingan.

There was a dark blurry figure looking down at the fight. Itachi's eyes widened when he recognized the familiar hairstyle of the shadow. _'Sasuke…No, he can't know about this!"_

He subconsciously flipped Fugaku on his back, his hands switching to his neck. _'That was the promise…Sasuke couldn't know anything.'_

He didn't even hear Fugaku's hoarse pleas; his mind was to warped.

Sasuke. Blood. Promise. Girl. Blood. Anko. Catch. Die. Die. Die.

His eyes met those of his father's. For once his were the broken ones while Itachi's were the insanity filled ones. It was a beautiful sight.

The three columns in Itachi's eyes turned like that of a pinwheel, and then collided together.

Fugaku's eyes widened at the sight of his sons' new Sharingan. Two years worth of hard-core training, beatings, and scowling had manipulated him into this…creature. He felt pain swirling like and icy fire all over his body. The iciness melted and turned into boiling lava that masked his veins. He wanted to scream but Itachi had clamped a strong hand on his mouth.

He chuckled darkly. "Shhh, don't wake, Sasuke..."

Itachi watched his eyes die, the color leave his face, and his soft body become stiff as death took him away.

"_We could have found a way happened to us? What happened to us? What happened to us?"_ He finally snapped back into reality. His shaky hands dropped his fathers' neck and re-coiled to his chest.

"…Dad?" he croaked.

_We should of have done our best to see another day_

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

_**FLASHBACK….**_

_Six years old Itachi stood on is tiptoes in order to peak over his parents' bed. His father was lying on his back with one arm behind his head and the other resting on his mother's hip, who was curled against him._

_Itachi smiled and climbed up the tall bed, struggling slightly because of the sliding silk sheets under his feet. He finally was able to crawl up to his parent's sleeping forms and shake them awake. "Mom! Dad! It's time to get up now!"_

_Fugaku groaned and opened his eyes. He stared at his son and the looked out the window. "Itachi, the sun's barely up yet. Why not give your parents some time to sleep in?"_

_Itachi laughed. "My stomach can't tell time! And I did try to tell him, but he so stubborn."_

_Fugaku smiled and ruffled his hair. Mikoto was already struggling to get up. _

_"I'm going, I'm going." He muttered tiredly as she got up to fix breakfast for her hungry men. _

_Itachi watched in memorization as her enlarge eight and a half month stomach waddled. He still didn't understand how another person had gotten in there but all his parents told him about the little brother or sister that would come out of her soon. He would smile and rub her stomach, if he was lucky, he'd get a kick back from the being inside._

_As soon as Mikoto was out of the room, Itachi turned back to his father and smiled. His smile disappeared however when he saw the look on his face. It was an impassive yet deep in thought one (it wasn't until years later that Itachi learned that he had inherited his eyes from Fugaku. But soon enough they became very different, his own)._

_Fugaku extended his arms. "Come here, son."_

_Itachi hesitated but crawled into his fathers' lap. Fugaku hugged him gently, pushing his head into his soft chest. "Itachi, you know that I love you, don't you?"_

_Itachi closed his eyes at the soft sound of his heartbeat through his green shirted chest. "Yes, Father, I know."_

_His large hand stroked his hair. "And you know that everything and anything I do to you is for your own good, right?"_

_Itachi's tiny nose crinkled at the chocking sound in his voice. "Sure, Dad. I get it."_

_A mixture of a sob and a smile echoed through his chest and out of his mouth. Itachi opened his eyes and sat up to see his fathers' sad but happy expression. "That's a relief, now I won't have to feel so guilty…"_

_**END OF FLASHBACK**_

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Itachi wiped the few drops of sweat off his face and pushed the rest of Fugaku's body into the small duck pond behind the house where he wouldn't be seen. He watched as the air bubbles dance as his body sunk deeper and deeper into the murky water. He couldn't keep this covered up for the next three days. He'd have to act ahead of schedule.

Itachi dropped to his knees, gripping the grass under his palms tightly. This was too much. He couldn't go through with it.

"I…I have to go." He said as if he were talking to someone. He jumped up and ran. He ran past the Uchiha estate, past the neighborhoods close to it, and past the lowest part of the Leaf Village. Images of smiles and blood kept flashing across his mind. He couldn't even feel the burning sensation in his chest they were so real.

"I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE!" he screamed into the night.

And yet, only one person heard him.

"What is he doing?" Anko asked herself as she watched Itachi. He was squeezing the sides of his head and screaming words she couldn't hear due to the thick glass. She squinted her eyes as he wobbled closer to the hospital like a drunk. Then they widened as he stopped and dropped to his knees. She gasped and searched for the bathrobe the Hospital had supplied her.

He gagged and sobbed on his air. He was panicking and he couldn't rationalize quick enough to calm down; at this rate he'd die of shock.

His eyes searched for something, anything clear to bring him back. But there was nothing, so he let the darkness take him. Just as he faded, something rammed into him and brought him back.

"Itachi!" the thing yelled. "Hey! Hey, stay with me!"

He blinked and she was above him, him lying in her arms, her head blocking out the bright moon. She smiled down at him, and his vision became clearer.

"What happened to you? You're soaking wet." She informed him, playing with his clothes.

He only stared at her, the beautiful angel. A smiled stretched over his face. "…Thank you."

She eyed him and positioned his arm around her shoulder.

"Let's get you inside." She grimaced slightly at the pain as she stood up.

_But we kept it all inside until it was too late _After climbing back through her window and placing him on her bed, she searched the bathroom for towels and extra clothes for the zoned out Uchiha. She found some sweats near his size since the hospital supplied only baggy clothes. She laid them in his lap. "Hope these are warm." She said. He stared at them and then at her.

"I'll… leave you alone." She headed to the bathroom. But she was stopped by his rough grab. "Wait, please don't go!"

She looked back at him.

"Please…I-I don't want to be alone." The hand on her wrist was shaking. Anko was sure it was because it was freezing outside and he was soaking wet but the look on his face made her think other wise. She sat down beside him. "Okay."

He smiled thankfully at her and quickly re-dressed. Afterwards they just sat there thinking of ways to stir of a conversation.

"…Your injuries are obviously better." Itachi stated, sounding more like his usually self.

"Much better, actually." She added. She looked at him. "Why were you running through the streets like a maniac?"

He stiffened and looked away from her. "…My father and I got into a fight."

Anko laughed, thinking the thought almost humorous. "You should have killed him."

Itachi flinched, his hands twisting in the sheets. The image of his father sinking to the bottom of his watery grave etched through his mind.

Anko placed a hand on his arm. "Sorry, I didn't think you'd get upset like that."

Itachi turned to her with a straight face. "It's fine."

Anko smiled and looked back down. Itachi watched her mesmerized, the same way he had done the night before. Now that her eyes were open, he say the lack of emotion held in them along with the strength that she held close. They were just like his.

"…Do you ever want to die?" she asked suddenly.

His eyes widened. He wanted to answer her but he could register the question in answer form. "I…"

Anko lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling with a great interest. "I don't. I want to leave this life of mine and begin a new one, but I want to continue living." She looked at him. "You?"

Itachi stared at her in a bit of shock. He had never given much thought where his life would end up; it had always been a routine, a careful schedule.

Train.

Send time with Sasuke, no matter how much.

Train.

Run.

Get beaten for running.

Watch Sasuke sleep.

Train.

Get beaten for not doing it well enough.

There was never any room for his wants and needs.

He lay beside her. "I don't know. It's best not to think of those things why you're still alive."

Anko sighed. "We could die right now, you can't help but to think about it."

He laughed, his nerves and fear finally taking him. "Don't you ever think of the positive things in life?"

She turned onto her side and stared at him. "I think about killing Orochimaru. That is the only thing that was able to make me smile until that little squeak of yours ran his mouth to me today."

Itachi chuckled, "Yes, Sasuke is a comfort." He felt Anko touch his arm.

He was surprised at the tears in her eyes. "I… wish he was here now."

He took her hand. "Yeah, me too."

That's how they stayed for the longest time, lost in each other, so lost in fact that they had moved closer. His eyes saw a cut on her cheek and he stroked it like it was the most delicate thing in the world. She was very beautiful, he had thought. So broken, so human, so perfect. Like him.

"Don't stop doing that." She begged him quietly.

He slid closer to her. "I'll never stop, I promise." His free arm wrapped around her waist and they shared each other's warmth through the cold night. They fit so easily together, like a perfect pair. Her head slipped up under his chin, lips absently brushing his neck.

They spread upwards like a small fire until they were at the corner of his mouth. She couldn't go any further. Her first time had been taken by force and she didn't want to feel what she had been going through now that some of her feeling was back.

Itachi's hand guided her to him. "I won't hurt you." He sounded so calm and reassuring, but inside he was angry and steamed.

'_Why am I saying this! I'm going to kill people in three days, I should bring her into this!'_

He was shaking as he helped her get situated on her back. His now warm hands undid the bows of her hospital dress and pulled it off her goose bumped body. His shuriken-patterned eyes studied her well-built, bruised body. Her breasts, hard from the cold, hadn't grown their fullest and where barely a C.

Her stomach was flat and he could feel her ribs by just by grazing her. His thumbs played with the elastic of her underwear; he was terrified to go this extra step. Her shaking hands slid to his sides and tugged at his shirt.

"Let's get on the same page, okay?" She whispered, referring to their nakedness. He nodded and helped her remove his shirt, shivering at the cold air.

"Cold." He breathed.

'_Stop! Don't do this to her!'_

The rest of her clothes came off slowly and hesitantly. He had no idea what to do this was his first time. He knew very little about "sex" and what he did know about it revolved around pain: rape, "kinky" stuff, and whatever else his father had spewed out after a couple of bar time.

The area between Anko's legs was probably the only part of her body that wasn't bruised. But when the moonlight hit it, he saw the dark, blood stained curls. He knew immediately why she had been in the condition she was in that morning. His blood boiled when Orochimaru's face went through his head.

"He did this, didn't he?" he tried to conceal his anger. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't know what he wanted really.

"It was my fault." She admitted softly. Typical. It was so normal for a girl to try to defend the man who put her through her day in and day out. "I didn't fight back. We would've stopped if I-…"

"No." he stopped her, pressing his body lightly to hers. "I saw his eyes. He'll never stop."

'_Get off of her!'_

"How…" hesitated about his next words. He didn't want to hurt her. "How did…How did he do this?"

"No!" Anko scowled. Her arms positioned on his shoulders to push him off. "Don't try to be like him, I don't want to see him right now!"

"All right…I don't want to be anything like him, Anko, trust me on that."

Her hands leveled his hips to the angle of hers. She then wrapped a hand around his stiffened erection and guided it to the opening behind the bloody curls. "I trust you. I'm going to help you, but you have to help me, too, okay?"

He gulped, but his shaking had died down somehow.

"Yes." He felt her lead him deeper and stiffen when he was halfway in. He tried to pull out but Anko practically pulled his dick off to keep him where he was.

"I'm fine." She assured under her pain. "Just…"

He unfolded her legs slightly more to get in more and stop her agony.

'_Fuck! Just get it over with and get out!'_

"Just shut up already!" Itachi gritted. He was completely in now and all these unfamiliar emotions were killing him: the tightness, Anko's moans of pain, his moans of pleasure that didn't really belong to him and didn't want if they did, and his guilty conscious.

"Try…Try to move some." Anko instructed under him.

'…_Such a brave girl.'_

"Just hold on a minute." He replied. "In a way, this is both out first times and I don't want to rush things too much."

Anko laughed weakly. "We are so fucked up."

Even Itachi saw the humor in her line. "Indeed we are, I think that will make what we're about to do more…comfortable."

Her hands went up and down his waist, the pain now gone, but the lust nowhere to be found.

"Why are you fighting for me?" she asked out of nowhere; a question that had been playing in her head since she woke up in his arms the night before.

He looked into her eyes. "I'm not, you're fighting for me." He kissed her over and over again. If his first time was going to be like this, he wanted it to be for the sake of the girl under him. He wanted to save one life before demolishing over a hundred. "I'm going to move now." He warned. "If I hurt you then please say so and-…"

Her hips shot upwards, a scream of some unnamed feeling shutting him up.

"You are so casual." Anko whispered. "Just…take me, already."

He went very slowly, the voice in his head warning him to take care of her. But Anko knew pain, so accustomed to in fact that she didn't even know a correct definition to pleasure. That's why she wanted this, to feel something different than a bone breaking or a bruise forming.

When she begged him to give her this, he didn't hesitate. This was all for her, even his own pleasure. He needed to make it count.

Still, he was human and each time he ventured back into those tight depths, his ecstasy screamed for more, and Anko's moans muffled in his shoulder and the movements her hips made with his wasn't helping him at all.

'_If she really is in distress, she would have told you. Take her; take what she offering to you.'_

The smartest thing that voice had said all night.

He sped up his thrusts and tasted different parts of her. Blood had never tasted so invigorating.

"Itachi…" the strain in her voice signaled her peek.

He squeezed her waist, wanting to hold on just slightly longer. She screamed under him and he released strongly into her along with a tidal wave of bliss.

Her body went limp under him and he feared he would crush her so he used what little strength he had left the collapse beside her.

Their bodies were slippery and warm for once on that cold night; the warmest any of them had been at all for a very long time. They stared at each other, worshiping each other's gazes and the crystals of sweat on their faces.

Anko laughed and turned over on her side. "We are so damn fucked up!"

He chuckled and covered her mouth. "Don't wake the nurses."

She ran a hand through his bangs. "If they didn't hear us a minute ago, then they won't hear us now or anything else. I could blow this floor of the hospital up and no one would know until morning."

He could only smile. He was blessed and cursed to know this girl. Before two days ago, he had wanted nothing else in the world than to escape his father abuse and take his little brother to the safest place in the world and stay there forever. But now Anko was in the picture. Sasuke liked her already, she could come with them and they could start their own generation of Uchiha's. There would never be any wars, dead bodies, and he would never lay a finger on them.

'_You forget, you have to kill every Uchiha now.'_

Itachi paled, this expression completely noticed by Anko.

"What is it?" she inquired him in a worried voice. He took her hand and forced a smile of reassurance.

"It's nothing." He kissed the hand and laid it back over her stomach. "Try to sleep now."

"Will you be here when I wake up?"

His eyes frowned and bile filled his stomach. Fugaku was dead. That wouldn't go unnoticed for three days.

'_You must act sooner. You must go tonight!'_

"Yes," he vowed to her. "I promise."

Anko smiled and closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around his waist to make sure he stayed true to his vow. She fell asleep to the rhythm of Itachi's fingers running through her hair.

He waited another hour before getting up quietly and putting his clothes back on. He kept his eyes on Anko the whole time. He would love to wake up every morning to that angelic face and just stare at it until her eyes opened.

But that dream was a waste of thought. Anko wouldn't want anything with him after tonight. Besides, she's a beautiful girl and would find someone who didn't have to break her heart. She would forget about her within a month's time.

'_But what about Orochimaru?'_

He looked back at Anko from his from his place at the opened window. He'd have to pay the Snake Sannin a final visit before leaving the village permanently.

_And now we're both alone_

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

_The consequence we made!_

"Mother, stop looking at me like that."

But Mikoto eyes remained their awestruck gaze. The last thing he did before going upstairs to his brother's room was dump her body into the garden pond where Fugaku's body was rotting. He wiped his eyes clean of the blood and made his way back into the blood stench house.

He pressed his ears to the door and almost broke when he heard Sasuke's sobs. The door was locked but he had to get in there.

He had to break Sasuke.

He had to find Orochimaru before the sun came up.

He had to leave the Leaf Village forever.

He kicked the door in half, earning a scream from Sasuke who was curled up under the window where he had watched him kill their mother. "Brother…Why…?"

He raised the sword and leveled the bladed to Sasuke's head. "You wouldn't understand…Goodbye…Sasuke."

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Don't cry, Sasuke. Your big brother is here to protect you, no matter what happens."

/.,.,.,.,/

Orochimaru wasn't home. That was a relief in a way; Itachi's clothes were already soaked through with blood and he could barely walk with the extra weight.

His breath was haggard as he walked through the dense forest of the Leaf Village. Nothing made sense anymore. That's why he didn't react when the tall, very misshaped man stepped in front of him.

"_Hello, Mr. Uchiha." _

Itachi, shaking violently, looked at him and took a few steps back.

"_Relax, we're not here to fight."_

Someone else stepped out into the light. "Most of us, at least."

Itachi's eyes widened at the man with long black hair and a leering smile. The darkness in Itachi started to build up again; the urge to kill greater than it had ever been.

"What the Hell is this?" he screamed.

"You and Orochimaru have been selected to join our little organization."The secretive man answered in a darker tone.

Itachi sounded like a confused child. "Organization?"

"The Akatsuki." Orochimaru stepped forward. "It seems as though you and I are going to be working together for now on."

"No!" Itachi screamed. He shot back and grabbed the sides of his head. "I'm not going with you, I won't betray Anko like that!"

**"Damn what's up with this kid?"**

"_Seems like all of this is too much for him, he just killed a bunch of people after all." _Zetsu turned from the scene. "**Come Orochimaru, it doesn't seem like Itachi's going to be as cooperative as you." **He began to walk away, but stopped when he realized that Orochimaru was still glued to where he was standing. "_Orochimaru?"_

The Snake Sannin walked towards Itachi's slouched, shaking form. Itachi gasped when his hand, freezing from the cold night, caressed his cheek in the similar fashion he used to do Anko. "Come now, you're not afraid after what you did earlier today and what you just did, are you?"

Itachi dropped to his knees, the blood memories weighing him down.

"Besides, don't you want to keep an eye on me to make sure I don't go after Anko? I've noticed that you've developed quite an…interest in her."

'_He knows.'_

Itachi looked at his hands. The blood on them was now dry enough to start to crack and his nails where black. Anko's blood wasn't on them, nor was Sasuke's. Orochimaru didn't know that yet, but it wouldn't take long with someone like him.

_For throwing it all away_

Orochimaru stood and followed Zetsu.

"Anko…Sasuke…"

They were all he had left, his only strength. He knew that in order to gain true power he'd have to burn the memories he had of them to ashes but he's use their remains to re fuel his goal over and over again.

No matter what it took, he'd keep the promise he made to Anko two nights ago: He'd keep her safe from the monster leaving him in the shadows.

No matter his little brother started to hate him, he'd protect and love him. _'Don't worry Sasuke. Your big brother will protect you, no matter what happens to him.'_

He stood up as a knew person, no longer fearful of the blood on his hands, the corpses that haunted his nightmares, and no longer fully attached to the two people asleep and passed out in the village behind him.

He shot after Orochimaru and Zetsu who were nothing but bobbling shadows in the distance.

_/.'.'.'.'.'/_

Anko shot up to the sound of a deep male's voice screaming: "Where the Hell is the AB-!"

She turned onto her back groggily and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Her body was warm for once despite how a sheet was the only covering on her body. She smiled at the memories of the day before. The man, who she loved and hated more than anything else on the Earth and had made love to one, who was the spitting image of her in every way had almost killed her.

Her smiled faded though when she saw the rumpled area beside her where Itachi had been sleeping. The word "used" started to form in her head, but she nudged the idea away. Itachi was not a player, how could someone who was so terrified of hurting her be?

A doctor barged into her room followed by an innumerable amount of nurses and assistance, none of who seemed to notice her.

"Hurry up, he's going to bleed to death!"

Anko stayed absolutely still so that she wouldn't get kicked out for watching the scene. She very carefully turned her head to the person being operated on next to her and her mind went into shut down when she caught site of the almost unfamiliar face of Sasuke.

"No…Oh, God no…"

He disappeared behind a blue curtain and Anko was able to think just slightly more now. Her hands twisted in the blanket as panic sunk into her gut. Did Itachi or his parents know about this? Where was Itachi? Why wasn't he here to make sure that his little brother was all right?

"Doctor, the bank is completely out of AB-!"

"Then get some from the Uchiha corpses from downstairs! They're all dead, it doesn't matter how much we take."

Anko's hand instinctively shot up to her mouth to muffle a scream. '_Uchiha corpses! All dead! Fuck, where is Itachi?'_

.,.,

It wasn't until an hour later when Sasuke was wheeled away in ICU that a weary Hokage came into her room to find her in a state of shock and had to dope her up on ecstasy long enough to tell her about her sensei's disappearance.

Anko's reaction had been a fit of maniac tic laughter and "Thank God!" over and over again until she was put asleep.

Two days later, when she was well enough to be checked out, she snuck into Sasuke's room. He was dazed, even when he smiled and said hello to her. She began to ask him about Itachi but he had started screaming and jumped out of bed to attack her. it took a doctor, three nurses, and four anesthetic needles to get him calm. His eyes as she left stayed in her mind from that day on.

She finally learned the truth about Itachi and fell apart in the comfort of the home she and Orochimaru once shared where she had to stay until she had enough money to get an apartment. She cried three days straight about the two men who had had such an impact on her life. She grieved as if they were dead; they might as well been.

Orochimaru: A teacher, occasionally a friend, and always a stranger and an abuser to her body and soul.

Itachi: a friend, a temporary lover, and a piece of her that had been left in that hospital room that cold, amazing night.

In the end, she was broken, but after she got her head together she laughed: they hadn't left a scratch on her. She would recover from this and make them regret even thinking that they could have some impact on her state of mind.

_For throwing it all away..._


	3. Now we're lost and lonely

_What happened to us?_

Itachi maneuvered his kasa over his eyes. He had no reason to look at anything anymore. He shouldn't have strayed from the mission to come here; he knew what it would have done to him. And now that he had witnessed Anko's death, the damage was worse than it originally had been.

All he wanted to do now was find Kisame and report to the leader that "Operation: Capture Nine-Tails" was a failure so that he could get yelled at and go to sleep for a very long time.

Still, there was a new sense of energy inside him. The fact that he had kept a promise to someone he used to love was a hell of an accomplishment; even she would never know he had fore filled it.

_We used to be so perfect…_

Anko's door busted open with the woman herself stumbling out of it. She held on to the porch railings to gather her strength. She laughed through pants as streams of blood flowed down her cheeks. She looked ahead at the figure retreating from her apartment.

She recognized that stride anywhere; the stride of the man who walked away from her twice, the one who kept his promise gallantly to protect her from a monster who tried to break her over and over again, the man she had fallen out of love with the second his little brother was checked into a hospital barely alive because of him.

_Now we're lost and lonely _

Itachi felt a cold presence behind him. He stayed completely still to wait for the person to strike. But when he felt a pair of shaky arms wrap around his waist, a wave of familiarization hit him. "Anko?"

She smiled and nuzzled his neck. "Hey, Uchiha."

_What happened to us?_

He smiled, his fingertips grazing her blood stained hands. Her gripped around him tightened, as if she never wanted to let go.

"You don't have to hold on so tight anymore."

"But I have to." She whispered.

_And deep inside I wonder,_

Something sharp penetrated his chest. Oh, wait; he had forgotten the sword in Orochimaru's neck, right on top of Anko…

_Did I lose my only? _

She helped him fall to the ground, smiling wildly the whole time.

"Hurts doesn't it?" she sat on her knees and watched his shaky eyes blink back droplets of blood. "Wh-…"

Anko's lips clasped down on his, cutting off his last breath. Dark shadows began filling in the spaces of light until all was left was darkness and the taste of Anko's blood stained lips to his. But then there was nothing.

_What happened to us?_

Anko pulled her tongue out of him Itachi's mouth. She grimaced at the different taste in his mouth;

Someone else had been kissing him recently.

"So you moved on…" she said to his corpse. Despite the anger and grief, she smiled. "Another thing we have in common." She looked at the moon, so clean and pure compared to the red scene below it. "I couldn't love you, no matter how hard I tried." Her fingers slid in his hair, massaging his scalp. "You started to fade so quickly, I couldn't even remember what you felt like, let alone your appearance." Her grip tightened to the point where strands of his hair popped out of his scalp. "I forgot you…Itachi."

_What happened to us?_

"Itachi?"

Anko's head shot up to the unimaginably tall figure blocking out her precious moonlight. He came closer and Anko gripped Itachi's body tightly as if it were her lifeline. It had been all those years ago.

"What the Hell happened?" the man roared.

Anko's ears perked up at the tone of his voice. His speech was slightly slurred, an indication of drunkenness. She smirked at this; he'd be so easy take down. With her eyes on the man, his hazy eyes and slightly pink cheeks, her fingers curled around the forgotten sword by her side…

_WHAT HAPPENED TO US!_

_.,.,.,.,.,._

_**Yep this here's just a 'what could have happened' fic of Anko and Itachi. Sorry to the Orochimaru fans out there who are blessing me out for beating the Hell out of him. It just felt right at the moment. I had a lot of fun writing this. **_

_**What happened to them? They went crazy as hell.**_

_**Do they still love each other? Yeah, in their own sick ways.**_


End file.
